Mobile App Marketing: Best Practices

Alfonso “John” Romero, a well-known designer and programmer in the video game industry, once said, “In marketing I’ve seen only one strategy that can’t miss – and that is to market to your best customers first, your best prospects second and the rest of the world last.”

Here at Liftoff, we couldn’t agree more. That’s why we have built a mobile user acquisition platform that identifies and targets app users with the greatest engagement potential. In other words, you don’t just find people willing to download your app, you find people who will register, purchase premium features and adopt your app as part of their daily lives.

This is a total inversion to the traditional app marketing model which casts a big net (focused on getting more downloads) in hopes that some of the fish stay in the net. While this isn’t the worst idea out there, it’s very expensive compared to the newer cost-per-action (CPA) model.

If you are looking to understand the best ways to market an app (gaming or otherwise), follow these tips from some of the leading app developers.

PlayKids: PlayKids is an interactive gaming app for young children. As you might imagine, marketing this app comes with a number of challenges. Not only do you have to capture a child’s attention by creating a fun and engaging gaming experience, you also have to convince parents and caretakers that the app is good for young minds.

Truth be told, PlayKids is actually very good at speaking to both of these audiences. Parents are reassured that in-game activities are appropriate, educational and uplifting. Meanwhile, kids are provided with an age-specific experience (for instance, a 3-year-old will have a totally different interaction than a 7-year-old).

To reach potential new users, PlayKids often advertises on Facebook. Nothing surprising there, but becoming too dependent on one marketing channel severely limits your outreach. Best practice is to diversify your channels.

Touch of Modern: While most retailers are still hemming and hawing over the balance between brick-and-mortar storefronts and ecommerce websites, Touch of Modern is charging forward into the mobile space with their highly-curated ecommerce app focused on mobile design products.

Of course, one of the challenges facing Touch of Modern is unifying an already fragmented market. A shopper might choose to buy a coffee table from one e-store and lighting from another. The solution for Touch of Modern is to re-engage past buyers to develop and instill loyalty. By combining this dynamic re-engagement strategy with unparalleled product offerings, Touch of Modern will continue to delight mobile shoppers time and time again.

Zoosk: If you are in the modern dating scene, you’ve almost definitely heard of Zoosk. One of the top dating apps, Zoosk has 35 million profiles and spans over 80 countries. The service uses big data algorithms to pool possible matches and connect you with that special someone. To help market this app, Zoosk boosts advertising spending between Christmas and New Year’s. That’s because more users are looking to get back into the dating scene around this time.

The takeaway? Understanding the seasonal behaviors of your target audience is key to engaging, and re-engaging, app users.

These are just a few of the mobile app marketing best practices out there. If you are serious about marketing your app, reach out to Liftoff today. We are more than happy to be your partner in mobile user acquisition.